wildly uneven but with a great deal of potential

Rating: 6/10 (8 July 2006)

Set in the year 2019, "The Island" provides yet another dystopian view of the future, one in which mankind must grapple with ethical questions specifically related to how he will use the technology he's created. In this case, it has to do with human cloning and how far we are willing to go to prolong our own hitherto limited life spans - and at whose expense.
Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson are two young people living in a hermetically sealed world after some sort of global "contamination" has ostensibly rendered the majority of the outside world uninhabitable (all except an island paradise that the people living here can travel to if they are lucky enough to win it as a prize in a lottery). Recently, however, McGregor has come to question many of the "truths" he sees in the world around him, wondering if there isn't some other, more sinister and diabolical explanation than the one he has been given by the powers-that-be, who monitor and run virtually every aspect of not only his life but the lives of those living and working alongside him.
Watching "The Island" is a bit like riding on a train that runs along smoothly for the most part, yet keeps jumping off the tracks at frequent and inconvenient intervals. You eventually arrive at where you're going, but there's an awful lot of frustration and delay in getting there. When the screenplay concentrates on the moral and ethical implications raised by its brave-new-world premise, the film is often incisive, thoughtful and compelling. Yet, as this is a Michael Bay film, the audience can't be allowed to become TOO thoughtful, so the filmmaker loads on one lame action scene after another to the point where the issues become buried under all the pyrotechnics. Every so often those issues manage to rise again to the surface only to be pushed back down by seemingly endless high speed car chases, earsplitting explosions and shattering glass that cascades in slow motion streams onto hero, villain and innocent bystander alike.
McGregor and Johansson aren't given much to do in the way of acting in the film, but Steve Buscemi manages to create something of a genuine character in the few scenes he is given. The art direction and set design are highly impressive and the over-the-top action scenes are admittedly well mounted and executed, even though they wind up weakening the movie. Yet, just when you're about to give up on it, "The Island" manages to climb back onto the rails and get you interested in it again. That's actually something of a step forward for Mr. Bay.